1. Technical Field
The invention relates to tools for the making and repair of arrows.
In particular, the invention relates to a tool for facilitating the precise gluing of pre-molded fletching to an arrow shaft, the tool being particularly handy for field repair of arrows.
2. Prior Art
Modern hunting and sport archery employs arrows having 16 pre-molded fletching, or simulated feathers, which are commonly glued the the exterior of the arrow shaft, instead of the more laborious insertion of feathers or other fletching into grooves dating back to the ancient "fletcher's" art. (The word derives from the French "fleche" for arrow.)
An existing fletching tool is heavy and cumbersome, being more suitable to workbench mounting, and provides for clamping of a single fletch at a time in relationship to a clamped arrow shaft while the applied glue dries. Modern 3-fletch or 4-fletch arrows therefore require a sequential gluing operation using existing apparatus.
The typical fletch has a portion extending radially from the arrow shaft, joined near said shaft with a t-shaped portion which is tangentially or coaxially glued to the shaft.
Hunters and sportsmen in the field may attempt to reglue a fletch torn off in flight or otherwise damaged on a retrieved arrow shaft, but if this is done using only visual alignment, the resultant fletching may cause the arrow to subsequently suffer from asymmetrical, deviant or unpredictable aerodynamic behavior, thereby impairing target accuracy. It is desirable that fletching be accurately attached to the arrow shaft in order to achieve reproducible archery performance.
It is further desirable that fletching be attached in precise angular relationship to the direction of the arrow nock, in which the bowstring is to be placed.
It is often desired to install or replace fletching on a number of arrows, particularly in the field during hunting expeditions or archery competitions where rapid arrow reuse is advantageous. The use of a single, expensive fletching tool capable of attaching single fletching only as fast as the glue-drying cycle allows, can cause considerable delay in such a situation. It is desirable to glue and dry all fletching simulataneously. Such operation would be enhanced if the fletching tool were simple enough to be economically manufactured, so that an archer could afford several such tools for simultaneous drying of several arrows in the field.
Once an arrow held within a fletching tool is dry, excess glue may still stick to the tool, requiring cleaning of the tool between repair cycles. Such excess glue can also inhibit removal of the dried arrow from a prior-art fletching tool in which axial withdrawal of the arrow and fletching from the fletching-clamping portion of the tool is required.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a fletching tool capable of simultaneous attachment of more than one fletching at a time to the arrow shaft.
Another object of the invention is to provide a fletching tool capable of precise relative spatial location of a plurality of fletching to the desired locus on the arrow shaft, and in relation to the arrow nock.
A further object of the invention is to provide a fletching tool which is simple, lightweight and inexpensive, for maximum convinience in field use.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a fletching tool in which the fletching-guide or clamping elements may be withdrawn from contact with the fletching prior to withdrawal of the arrow from the tool.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a fletching tool resistant to sticking of excess glue.
Another object of the invention is to provide a fletching tool in which access may be obtained readily to the glue-attachment surface of the fletching after emplacement of the arrow shaft and the fletching in the tool.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a fletching tool adaptable to varying dimensional relationships between arrow shaft, nock and fletching, as well as variations in angular relationship between nock and fletching, and various shaft diameters, nock sizes and fletching sizes.